Escape from the Thriller World – Chapter 18
by Little PandaVolume One: The Old Corpse in the Mountain Village
Dust-sealed Past Events
A dust-sealed past event gradually opens its curtain.
Wei Jinye was scared out of his wits. He leaned on his walking stick and looked down from the balcony of the 11th floor room.
With a “bang”, the glass bottle on the table fell to the ground silently, making a sharp and crisp sound.
The living room suddenly went dark, and a rustling sound came from the side of the house, like someone stepping on bottles.
Wei Jinye hid behind the curtain of the balcony, and he took a curious glance.
A long shadow was reflected on the wall of the living room. She (or it) groped for food in the living room, crouched on the sofa, and grinned weirdly, looking just like a monster crawling!
Wei Jinye silently hid on the balcony, crouching and taking two steps back.
Suddenly, a gloomy voice came to his ears: “Old Wei, where are you going……”
Monster! That monster had got him!
In panic, Wei Jinye pushed away his walking stick and ran towards the door without caring about anything else.
The security guard outside the door was patrolling this floor. He grabbed his hand with a panicked look and said, “Quick, go and see, there’s a monster, a monster!”
The security guard bravely walked in front, Wei Jinye hid behind the security guard and walked with faltering steps.
The room was pitch black. The security guard used his beeper (a small electronic device for receiving messages) to tell them to continue patrolling, while he stayed alone on this floor to guard.
Wei Jinye had rushed out earlier and didn’t close the door, so it was still half-open.
The security guard entered and turned on the light by the door. He shone his flashlight around, and they vaguely saw a black cat lying on the coffee table, licking an opened packet of cookies.
Wei Jinye breathed a sigh of relief. His gaze fell on the black cat, and he pointed at it, glaring and saying: “You quickly drive this beast out and skin it!”
As soon as the words “skin it” were spoken, the cookie in the black cat’s mouth fell loosely onto the coffee table, with a few crumbs left at the corners of its mouth.
It turned its head to look at Wei Jinye, its dark green pupils slightly sinking.
“Master Jinyeye, you’re too nervous. It’s just a black cat that ran in,” the security guard said, compassionately stepping forward to pick up the black cat.
Wei Jinye, clutching his chest and struggling to catch his breath, continued to point at the black cat and said: “Skin it!”
The security guard, holding the black cat in his arms and gently stroking its fur, said soothingly: “Heaven values all life. You shouldn’t go to such extremes over a cat!”
Wei Jinye coughed twice and said: “You’re just a small security guard, have you lost the ability to understand human speech? If you don’t skin it, get lost along with it!”
Wei Jinye made it clear he wanted to vent his anger on him. He didn’t want to lose his job, so he hurriedly nodded and said: “Master Jinyeye, I’ll throw it away right now……”
Ning Lan was just coming back from downstairs when she saw this security guard holding a black cat. The black cat’s pupils contracted as it looked at her, its eyes seemingly “asking for help.”
The black cat that Shen Qingyou encountered last night should be this one. Was it its appearance that drove away the ghost of that old woman?
Ancient people said black cats gather spiritual energy, and cats shouldn’t be kept past seven years old. Now it seems this cat has become spiritually aware.
Ning Lan interjected: “A newly bought cat? It looks a bit skinny.”
The security guard shook his head and said: “It’s not my cat, it’s a cat that broke in. I’m about to deal with it……”
The security guard muttered quietly, saying that when this Wei Jinye gets angry, he either hits women or takes out his anger on them. He’s really not a good person.
These rich people throw their weight around just because they have some capital.
Ning Lan continued: “Can I keep the cat for a while? It’s not good to dispose of it.”
The security guard sighed and said: “Master Wei Jinye ordered it, we underlings can only follow orders.”
The black cat meowed “meow meow meow” several times again, it leaned closer into the security guard’s arms.
It was a black cat with a strong desire to survive.
Ning Lan took out a few Hong Kong dollar bills from her pocket and handed them to the security guard, saying: “How about this, I’ll take the cat in your hands, I’ll come get it later.”
The security guard accepted the bills, nodded and said: “Don’t tell anyone about this, okay?”
Ning Lan now had an important matter to attend to, she had to figure out how Wei Jinye got that “Hell Scroll” painting. (a famous Japanese painting, which is part of a series of scrolls depicting scenes of Buddhist hells.)
The game task had already given her a hint, there must be a connection.
Ning Lan peered at the window outside Wei Jinye’s room, the lights were still on inside the house.
Wei Jinye was still frightened by the monster that was crawling in the living room just now, he sat alone on the sofa angrily knocking over the items on the coffee table.
With his furious personality, no wonder ghosts want to find him.
Ning Lan didn’t feel sorry at all for whatever ghosts might do to Master Wei Jinye. She now only wanted to understand the whole story before the ghost could get to him.
Ning Lan knocked on the door and said: “Is Master Wei Jinye here? We have made progress on the haunting in the Tong Lau.”
His thoughts were pulled back by Ning Lan.
Master Wei Jinye tapped his cane twice and said: “The door isn’t fully closed, come in!”
Ning Lan pushed the door open. Master Wei Jinye, gripping his cane, told her to sit on the sofa and speak. Ning Lan roughly analyzed the origin of this ghost, which might be related to “fire.”
“According to your explanation, the cause of the haunting is that female ghost who refuses to leave?” Master Wei Jinye asked.
Burned woman, Hell Scroll, elements all included fire.
“Master Jinye, how did you get this Hell Scroll painting? Has there been a female resident who burned to death in your building?” Ning Lan asked.
Female resident, painting.
His eyes deepened a bit.
Master Wei Jinye surprisingly opened his mouth and said: “She… she came back?”
Master Wei Jinye’s eyes changed dramatically. Mentioning this person, he was scared, terrified, and even the cane he was holding was shaking.
Ning Lan saw his reaction, and figured this woman was almost certainly related to him somehow.
Master Wei Jinye took a breath and said: “Her name is Akita Kyoko, a woman I met while traveling in Japan.”
A long-buried story gradually unfolded through Master Wei Jinye’s disclosure.
Akita Kyoko was born in a rural area of Tokyo, Japan. She met the young and energetic Master Wei Jinye during farm work in the countryside.
Master Wei Jinye’s full name is Wei Jinbao. His ancestors had been merchants for generations, and his father gave him this name hoping he would attract wealth and treasure (the character “bao” means “treasure” and is associated with wealth).
Wei Jinbao once thought the name his father gave him was old-fashioned. He wanted to change his name but was strongly opposed by his father.
Wei Jinbao’s mother died of severe tuberculosis when he was very young, and his father quickly remarried, bringing home a stepmother.
His rebellious period started at 18 and he consistently went against his father.
He argued loudly that he didn’t want that stepmother and demanded his father divorce her.
His father slapped him across the face and said: “Who do you think you are? What right do you have to order me around? This whole family was built by my hard work!”
Wei Jinbao, holding his swollen red face, said: “What about my mom? What does she mean to you in your heart?”
His father, with a livid face, said: “Don’t use your mom to pressure me. I’m already doing you a favor by raising you.”
Wei Jinbao mocked him, saying: “I also don’t have a father like you, someone who likes the new and loathes the old (idiom meaning fickle in relationships).”
His words were sharp, and with one sentence, he enraged his father. His father hit him so hard it made him deaf in one ear, so he had to wear a hearing aid.
His inner feelings changed; he hated this family and hated his father even more.
The stepmother would bully him together with his so-called younger brother when his father wasn’t around, calling him a child in name only with no real status.
“I’ll beat you to death, you bastard. Your mom’s identity is also unclear. They say she’s a woman dad met at sea,” the younger brother, who was a few years younger than him, hit him with a steel pipe.
“Get lost! You’re the ones destroying other people’s families! A pair of colluding mother and son!” Wei Jinbao gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, grabbed the steel pipe, and hit his brother with it.
Wei Jinbao fought back, but the stepmother hit him even harder.
His tears instantly fell, and he could only silently endure all of this.
Wei Jinbao muddled through a few years of university, and even after graduating, he still wandered about like a drifter.
His father wanted him to stay at home and learn more tricks for dealing with business situations, but he didn’t listen.
Wei Jinbao wondered what life in Tokyo, Japan, would be like, so he chose to go out and see.
Wei Jinbao’s mood at that time was to escape from the mundane world (a reference to leaving behind worldly troubles), so he chose to play in a remote countryside area of Tokyo.
The people in the Tokyo countryside, seeing that he was Chinese, were somewhat displeased and argued for him to leave.
While being driven away by the countryside people, he met Akita Kyoko, a kind and understanding farm woman.
Akita Kyoko wore coarse linen clothes, had a small and delicate figure, and her clean and pretty face attracted Wei Jinbao.
Akita Kyoko was in the field harvesting a season’s wheat, her nimble fingers holding a curved knife to cut the wheat.
In a fleeting glance, their eyes met.
A cross-border romance was born just like that.
The people in the Tokyo countryside were unwelcoming to Wei Jinbao, except for Akita Kyoko who treated him like a guest from afar.
“Kyoko, why did you bring a Chinese man back? You know China and Japan are…” Akita Koji said, hesitating to finish his sentence.
Akita Kyoko lowered her head, bowed to her father, and said: “Honorable father, he has nowhere to go and looks very pitiful. Please let him stay for a while!”
Wei Jinbao knew simple Japanese and could have some basic communication with them, and he was willing to pay in yen to stay at their house temporarily.
Akita Koji reluctantly agreed to let Wei Jinbao stay in one of the partitioned washitsu (Japanese-style room) in their house.
At first, Wei Jinbao didn’t tell Akita Kyoko that he came to Japan for leisure, and Akita Kyoko developed feelings for him in just half a month.
Akita Kyoko secretly expressed her feelings to Wei Jinbao, and Wei Jinbao felt lost, not knowing how to reject her.
“Kyoko, listen to me. My father would never allow me to marry a Japanese woman,” Wei Jinbao said, sitting under the cherry blossom tree in the courtyard.
Akita Kyoko rested her head on his shoulder and said: “I don’t care, take me with you, Jinbao, I don’t want to stay in the Tokyo countryside.”
Wei Jinbao held her hand and said: “Kyoko, do you really want to come with me? Once you go to China, it will be very difficult to return to your homeland.”
Akita Kyoko initially just wanted to escape from the Tokyo countryside, she didn’t think too much about it, she nodded and said: “Jinbao-ge, when will we leave?”
Wei Jinbao thought for a moment and said: “Let’s wait for the war between China and Japan to calm down, after some time, I’ll find a way to return to China.”
Wei Jinbao, now dependent on others for shelter, could only agree with Akita Kyoko, little did he know that their every move was being observed by Akita Koji standing on the wooden corridor.
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